James Carr on TDD Anti Patterns

A long catalog of anti patterns. While interesting and lots of “I’ve done this!” moments, remember: When doing unit tests, you will make mistakes. Ok, when you program, you’ll make mistakes. You can’t say now: I got to watch out for these, you won’t write unit tests at all.

Don’t let lists of patterns or anti patterns lead you. Patterns are communication tools. They make conversations shorter, and allow better idea transfer from one mind to another. If you know them, they are easy to spot. But that’s it. There’s no substitution for your brain. You actually need to put it to work now and again, even if to decide whether to use the pattern, or, heaven forbid, leave your code as it is, even if it looks like the anti-patterns.